In recent years, the devastating loss of lives and property from tornadoes and hurricanes has reached crisis proportions. Certain areas of the country, such as Florida, are viewed by insurance companies as only being insurable at very high rates because of the magnitude of damage that can be caused by a hurricane. There is a clear need for technology which can reduce this damage to a manageable level to permit insurance companies to provide reasonably priced coverage for structures in such high risk areas.
More recent events such as Hurricane Isabel and the fires in California have reinforced this need for a better quality of construction to allow for a reduction in costs to our Federal Government for monies allocated to FEMA for help in catastrophic events. All taxpayers pay these enormous costs. A higher quality of life for people living in dangerous areas of our country where fear of natural catastrophes is part of their lives is urgently needed.
This patent also can be used by our military services to provide a fast, safe and completely demountable building for use in housing and essential services such as hospitals, warehouses and offices. For example, there are autoclaved cellular concrete plants in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia which could supply Iraq. Small buildings using this patent could be built throughout the Caribbean for housing of essential equipment to provide faster and more complete data to the U.S. Weather Service; in addition, the building could also be built in fire prone areas, allowing firefighters to obtain pertinent information such as fire temperature and wind data.
Knowledgeable people tell me that a slow moving hurricane category 4 (131-151 MPH) striking either the Florida Keys or Galveston could result in at least 10,000 deaths. I hope and pray these occurrences never happen, but hurricane experts will tell you this is very possible.